A Cooper-Star Performance Sparks Lakers

The Lakers lose consecutive blowouts about as often as:

--Coach Pat Riley forgets to blow-dry his hair.

--Kareem Abdul-Jabbar pushes the ball downcourt on the fast break.

--Michael Cooper is criticized for his defense.

It just doesn’t happen, although that was Abdul-Jabbar driving up the middle of the floor before dishing off to Cooper for the clinching basket in the Lakers’ 112-104 win over the Dallas Mavericks before a crowd of 15,896 at the Forum Friday night.

“Just one of those things that happens once a year and I just went with it,” said Abdul-Jabbar, who earlier had the nail torn off his right index finger but was still able to exchange high-fives with Magic Johnson after a little magic of his own.

However, the way the Lakers were playing in the first half Friday night, it’s surprising that Riley’s hair wasn’t standing on end.

The Lakers, double-figure losers to the Golden State Warriors at Oakland the night before, missed their first eight shots and trailed the Mavericks by 17 points, 45-28, four minutes into the second quarter.

“You know, we looked up at the clock . . . and just said, ‘Oh no, we don’t want to be down by 20 at the half again,’ ” said Magic Johnson, who scored 18 of his game-high 27 points before intermission.

But after some extraordinary defense by Cooper kept the Lakers within range, 60-51, at halftime, the Lakers ran off 18 straight points in the third quarter, then held off the Mavericks to end Dallas’ six-game winning streak.

The 18-0 burst was five minutes of vintage Showtime: four straight baskets at full speed, one of which started when Abdul-Jabbar went out of bounds to save a loose ball, two others that became three-point plays because of Dallas fouls.

“Normally when a team is down by 17, it takes a lot of time for them to climb back into things,” Maverick forward Mark Aguirre said. “For them, it seemed like just a matter of minutes.”

Five minutes, to be exact, before Al Wood’s layin ended the Laker run, which turned the score from 55-64 to 73-64.

But it was Cooper’s play at both ends of the floor in the second quarter that kept the crowd out of the rain and the Lakers in the game.

“Nobody wanted to practice tomorrow,” Cooper said with a laugh, when asked to explain the following sequence, in which he:

--Blocked a shot by James Donaldson, the Mavericks’ 7-2 center, with Byron Scott hitting a three-pointer on the change of possession.

--Rebounded a miss by Magic Johnson, then fed Magic for another try. Johnson was fouled and made both free throws.

--Rebounded a miss by Rolando Blackman and converted it into a slam-dunk basket by James Worthy on the fast break.

--Stole the ball from Donaldson.

--Blocked a shot by Derek Harper.

--Drew a charge on Blackman.

--Soared over Donaldson for a thunderous, left-handed slam that cut the Mavericks’ lead to six, 57-51, with 19 seconds left in the second quarter.

“He was the key for us,” Magic Johnson said. “He comes out there and creates things that get us going when we’re down.”

The Mavericks were down, 86-81, early in the fourth quarter but regained the lead, 95-94, on a free throw by Aguirre with 5:37 left to play.

The score was tied, 104-104, when Magic Johnson scored on a short hook shot across the lane with 1:12 left.

Harper missed a three-point attempt, Cooper rebounded and hit a 17-footer to give the Lakers a four-point lead with 36 seconds to go.

Abdul-Jabbar then rebounded a shot by Blackman and dribbled nearly the length of the floor before dishing off to Cooper.

Cooper had one last defensive gem: He blocked Harper’s three-point attempt, then went out of bounds to keep the ball in play, slapping it to Magic Johnson.

“I think we just kept our persistency,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “We weren’t playing well, but we kept running, and eventually they had some physical breakdowns and couldn’t keep up with us.

“We worked hard for this one tonight.”

Laker Notes

Laker forward A.C. Green, who didn’t score a point in seven minutes in the first half, had 16 points in the second half, including 10 in the third quarter. . . . Byron Scott, who made just 1 of 5 shots in the first half and had 4 points, also finished with 16 points, including a three-pointer that tied the score at 94-94. . . .James Donaldson led the Mavericks with 20 points and had 10 rebounds. Sam Perkins had 19 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. The Lakers outrebounded Dallas, 47-44. . . .Mark Aguirre, who had 13 points in the first half, finished with just 16, which was 8 below his average, and sat out a long stretch of the second half. Was this another chapter in his long-running feud with Coach Dick Motta? No, both parties said. “Mark just wasn’t playing well,” said Motta, noting that he also had pulled starter Rolando Blackman at the same time. Said Aguirre: “I wasn’t playing well. One out of 20 (games) isn’t bad.” . . . Laker backup center Mike Smrek made all 3 of his shots and scored 6 points in his 9 minutes. Smrek also committed 5 fouls in his brief appearance.